


Bad Day

by beenicetobees



Series: Autistic Dan and Phil [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Autism, Autistic Dan Howell, Autistic Phil Lester, M/M, Meltdown, Old dan and phil branding, Stimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 17:57:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16224332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beenicetobees/pseuds/beenicetobees





	Bad Day

Phil woke up at precisely 8:42 in the morning when his alarm went off. He sat up, yawned, and sat in bed until 8:45.

He got up and pulled on jeans and his favorite t-shirt, which was green and tight and soft.

He brushed his teeth and straightened his hair at 8:50.

He went to the kitchen and made a bowl of shreddies. He set up coffee to brew and left the kitchen. He grabbed a handful of Dan’s crunchy nut on the way to the living room. Phil knew Dan would be upset, but it was part of his Tuesday routine. Dan knew that he couldn’t do anything about it.

Phil browsed Tumblr until 9:45, when he went to Dan’s room to wake him up. 

Dan was under the covers, presumably asleep, when Phil came in. Phil yanked the comforter off Dan, and Dan groaned and shielded his eyes from the light.

“Rise and shine Daniel, time to get up! We have a gaming video to film, shopping to do, and coffee ready in the kitchen.”

Dan moaned and rolled over, pressing his face into his pillow. “I don’t wanna,” He grumbled, voice muffled by the fabric. 

“I’ll make you a bowl of Crunchy Nut, alright? Now get up and get ready.”

“Mhm”

“I’ll take that as a yes. Hurry up.”

Phil went back into the kitchen, got a bowl, and made Dan his promised crunchy nut. He also grabbed two mugs for coffee, Hello Kitty for Dan, One Direction for Phil. As he was pouring Dan’s coffee, Dan appeared in the doorway. 

He was slightly rocking from his heels to his toes and back, and making a small humming noise in the back of his throat. 

“Coffee’s ready. Go queue up an anime while I get a hobnob,” Phil said, handing Dan his coffee and cereal. Dan nodded as thanks and went to the living room to choose an anime.

Phil quickly grabbed a cookie and went to join Dan on the couch. He made a few short whirring noises then clicked his tongue. He bounced up on his toes twice before plopping down on the sofa. 

“What’d ya choose?” Phil asked in his full Northern accent, “Woah, full on Northern there,”

Dan huffed a laugh. “Free!”

~~~

“First we’re going to go to the store, because we need milk ASAP. Then we’re going to the shoe store because I wore through my last pair. ” Dan grumbled. “I know I’m sorry! I’m not to thrilled either, so it’ll be really quick I promise. Then we’re going to starbucks. Then we’re coming home and filming a sims video. Then we will have four hours of downtime before we make dinner. Okay?”

Dan nodded microscopically.

“Go get what you need.” They got up and went to their separate rooms. 

Phil put on his favorite sweatshirt and opened up his bedside drawer. He took out his stim toy box and decided which would be coming with him. He decided on his blue and green tangle junior, his grey and red fidget cube, and a rainbow teether ring. He put all of these in his jacket pocket. (The chewable was in a ziplock first.)

Back in the living room, Dan was waiting for him, spinning slowly in circles, and still making a low humming noise. He was wearing black skinny jeans, converse, and his favorite black and grey sweater. He also had his galaxy backpack.

“What’ve you got for the trip Dan?”

Dan unzipped his backpack and dumped it out, revealing his ratty old dog stuffed animal named Tank, his squishy ice cream, his twiddle, his bead ring, his weighted lizard, and a slinky. There was also his ipad, phone, and noise cancelling earbuds.

“That’s quite a lot for such a short trip. Is it a bad day?” Phil asked. He also noticed dan was wearing his black chew UFO necklace and spinner ring.  
Dan nodded. 

“Alright we’ll make this fast. Shopping will be quick, and then you can get whatever you want at Starbucks. We won’t stay very long there. Go home straight away.”

Dan took a deep breath and nodded again. He hugged Tank tightly, and began putting his stim toys back in his bag. He kept out his twiddle and was playing with it as well as chewing on his UFO as they left the house. 

Dan was unreachable as they walked to Tesco, with his earbuds blocking the rest of the world. Phil played with his fidget cube in his pocket. 

The city smelled horrible, especially today, and every time they passed a bad smell Phil would put his elbow over his nose, calming himself with the familiar scent of his coat. 

“OHMYGODIT’SYOU” squealed a voice from behind them. Phil grabbed Dan’s arm to stop him, letting go when he flinched at the touch. 

“Hello,” said Phil, “What’s your name?” 

“I’m Diana,” The girl said excitedly. She was about 15 and had brown curly hair and braces. She was wearing a blue sweater that had a cat design on it.  
In a fit of excitement she hugged Phil, and before Phil could do anything she hugged Dan too.

“No!” shouted Phil as he pulled her off of Dan by her shoulder. “It’s a bad day. Don’t touch him!” she looked mortified and backed away slowly.

“I am SO sorry, I didn’t know, I should’ve realized, I’m so-” Phil cut off her apologies.

“Diana, it’s okay! You didn’t know! Right Dan?” Phil looked at Dan for backup, but he was staring at the ground, and violently flapping his hands. “He’ll be alright,”

“Oh god, is this my fault?” her eyes were welling up with tears.

“No, no, no! Don’t beat yourself up about it! If this had been another day your hug would have been fine! It’s just because he’s having a bad day. I’m sorry but we’re going to have to say goodbye. I promised him we could go home soon and we still need to finish the shopping.”

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Alright. Wouldn’t want to force Dan to stay out later than he has to. Can I take a picture with you guys?” 

Phil nodded and took Diana’s phone. He held up the phone and looked at Dan to see if he was coming into the picture. He shook his head no and began clicking his tongue and swaying back and forth. Phil shrugged and snapped the picture.

“It was nice meeting you Diana. Sorry Dan wasn’t at his best.” Phil smiled a sad smile.

“It’s fine. Feel better Dan.” And she left. 

“Tank,” said Dan quietly after a few minutes. Phil reached into Dan’s backpack and took out the stuffed dog. Phil handed it to him and he immediately started hugging Tank tightly. After a few minutes they began walking again, slower this time. 

They got to the store soon after that, as they lived very close to it. Phil got the milk quickly, and put it in the basket. “Is there anything you need?”

Dan got out his phone and pulled up his text to speech app. He clicked on one to the commonly used phrases. An automated American voice read out, “Can we get maltesers.”

Phil nodded and grabbed the malted milk balls from the candy aisle. They went back to the front of the store to check out, but the self checkout was closed. Dan whimpered.  
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to talk to anyone. I’ll do everything. You can go wait by the redbox if you like,” Dan nodded and went and sat by the redbox, knees to his chest, face buried in his dog.

Phil waited in line impatiently, shifting from one foot to another and aggressively stimming with his tangle. He took out his phone and tweeted out a message.

‘If you see us today, please don’t hug dan. He’s having an overload.’

Phil was so anxious that the cashier had to call him twice to get his attention. He bought the materials quickly and went to Dan. 

He was chewing hard on his knuckle. Phil gently took the hand out of his mouth and sighed when he saw that he had broken the skin. Phil grabbed the UFO off of Dan’s chest and put it between Dan’s teeth, which were currently biting on his lips. With the chew in his mouth, he thankfully stopped hurting himself. 

“I won’t make you go to the shoe store with me. But Starbucks is just across the street. Do you want a hot chocolate?” Phil said in his softest whisper. Dan nodded. “Alright.” 

Phil stood up and held out his hand. Dan covered his hand in his sleeve and grabbed it, allowing Phil to help him up.

They walked out of the store and onto the pavement. While crossing the street a stranger bumped into Dan and he whimpered. Another person almost bumped into Dan but Phil moved Dan so the man bumped into Phil instead. Phil winced and ran his hand over the back of his neck. He took his teether ring out of it’s bag and began chewing on it. He was getting really anxious, but he couldn’t show it because if he freaked out it would make Dan freak out even more. 

Thankfully the Starbucks was not crowded. Dan sat with his knees to his chest in the corner, rocking back and forth shaking his bead ring. Phil ordered a hot chocolate for Dan and a caramel macchiato for himself. The drinks came quickly and Phil smiled at the barista. Dan and Phil left the Starbucks and began the trek home.  
When they got there Phil guided Dan to his room, making sure not to turn on any lights. 

“What do you need? Whatever you want I’ll get it for you.” 

“Blanket.”

“Weighted?”

Dan nodded. Phil went and got Dan’s weighted blanket from their sensory cupboard. He draped the blanket over Dan, who was lying face down on his bed. He started to leave but then he heard Dan muffled voice murmuring “Stay.”

Phil smiled and lay down next to Dan. 

Everything would be alright.


End file.
